1. Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to a remote control apparatus for remotely controlling a toilet seat apparatus that sprays water toward the private parts of a human body.
2. Description of Related Art
There is a widely-used toilet seat apparatus in existence which sprays water toward private parts of a user seated on a toilet seat in order to cleanse such private parts. The user presses buttons or the like provided on the toilet seat apparatus to select the operations of the toilet seat apparatus, such as starting water spray from a nozzle after relieving himself/herself, stopping the water spray after cleansing and so on. Another practical and common configuration is such that a remote controller provided with such buttons is installed on a wall surface of a bathroom compartment in order to arrange these buttons in a place where the user can easily operate them, so that the toilet seat apparatus is remotely and wirelessly controlled.
When an operation of the toilet seat apparatus is selected using a remote controller, the electric power required for generating a signal according to the selected content and transmitting the signal to the toilet seat apparatus is typically supplied from a battery in the remote controller or by a commercial power source supplied via wires. However, when the electric power is supplied by a battery or via wires, burdensome work is required in order to replace the batteries and install wires.
Patent Document 1 (JP2006-009280 A) proposes a remote controller for a toilet seat apparatus which eliminates the need for such battery replacement and wire installation. In the remote controller described in Patent Document 1, when a user presses a button on the remote controller, the pressing operation generates electric power and the resulting electric power is used to generate and transmit a signal. More specifically, mechanisms such as a switch and an engagement piece provided in the remote controller are actuated by the user's pressing operation, an impact is made on a piezoceramic body and the resulting electric power is used for generation of a signal, etc.
A remote controller for a toilet seat apparatus is generally provided with buttons (hereinafter referred to as the “main buttons”) for causing the toilet seat apparatus to perform operations such as water spray from a nozzle and stop of such water spray, and also provided with buttons (hereinafter referred to as the “sub-buttons”) for causing the toilet seat apparatus to perform auxiliary operations such as adjusting the water strength of the water spray from the nozzle. The main buttons are buttons related to the basic operations of the toilet seat apparatus and are pressed by users with a high frequency, and it is therefore desirable to form the main buttons in a large size so that the users can press the buttons easily with their fingers.
In addition, in order to enhance design quality by reducing the size of the entire remote controller, it is common to form the main buttons in a relatively large size and form the sub-buttons, which are pressed less frequently, in a relatively small size.
However, in a situation where such configuration is employed, if electric power is to be generated by means of the pressing operation of a sub-button and a signal is to be generated and transmitted using the electric power, it may not be possible to secure sufficient transmission accuracy. Specifically, if the sub-buttons are formed in a relatively small size, it becomes difficult for a user to press them and it becomes impossible to generate a sufficient amount of electric power, which may result in degradation in the transmission accuracy of a signal. It has therefore been difficult to balance the design quality and the signal transmission accuracy of a remote controller.
The present invention has been made in view of the problems above and an object of the present invention is to provide a remote control apparatus for a toilet seat apparatus which generates electric power by means of a user's pressing operation, the remote control apparatus being capable of balancing design quality and the transmission accuracy of signals at a high level.